Problem: In 36 years, Vanessa will be 5 times as old as she is right now. How old is she right now?
Answer: We can use the given information to write down an equation about Vanessa's age. Let Vanessa's age be $v$ In 36 years, she will be $v + 36$ years old. At that time, she will also be $5 v$ years old. Writing this information as an equation, we get: $v + 36 = 5 v$ Solving for $v$ , we get: $4 v = 36$ $v = 9$.